Help › Builder guide
Embroidered Apparel Builder
Set up embroidery pricing, placements, sizes and thread choices.
Help› Builder guide
Set up embroidery pricing, placements, sizes and thread choices.
On this page
- What the customer sees
- Logos and digitizing
- What you configure
- What arrives in the work ticket & spec sheet
- Other builders
Help centre
Builder guides
What the customer sees
Embroidery is where quotes usually go wrong, so this builder makes the shopper answer the questions that actually drive cost. They pick an item, a placement, a stitch size and thread colors, and the price updates live by stitch count and area. The builder is explicit that this is stitched, not printed.
Every PrintKit builder is touch-first, so the same experience works on a phone.
| Control | What the shopper does |
|---|---|
| Order type | Switches between the kinds of embroidery order you offer. |
| Item & color | Picks the garment or item and its color — with the color's name spelled out next to the label. |
| Placement | Left chest, full back, cap front and the rest of the locations you offer. |
| Stitch size (inches) | The real finished size of the embroidery, which is what drives stitch count and price. |
| Customize | Add Text (name, shape and font) or Digitize a Logo. |
| Thread color | Thread swatches, again named, for the shopper's design. |
| Patch options | For patch orders: size, backing and border. |
Logos and digitizing
Embroidery machines can't read a normal image — they sew from a digitized stitch file that maps every stitch, direction and thread color. The builder explains that to the shopper and gives them two honest routes:
They upload a logo
PNG or JPG. Where you have it configured, the builder offers “We digitize it (free)”— digitizing is included and the customer isn't surprised by a setup fee later. You can also show a “free digitizing at N+ pieces” clause if that's your policy.
They already have a stitch file
The builder accepts .DST, .PES, .EXP and .EMB— ready to sew, no digitizing fee. Vector and source files (PDF, AI, EPS, SVG) are accepted too, because they are what a digitizer actually wants to work from.
PrintKit does not produce the stitch file. What you receive is a specification plus the customer's artwork, ready for digitizing — by you, by your digitizer, or by us where you have that configured. It is not a machine-ready stitch file, and this help center will never call it one.
What you configure
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Shared garments | Garments and print locations are shared with the Full Color builder — set them up once and they appear here too. |
| Products | Tees, hoodies, hats (trucker / snapback / structured), beanies, polos and custom patches. Each is individually toggleable — patches-only shops are welcome. |
| Colors | Per product, so a polo can carry different colors from a beanie. Swatch names are shown to the shopper. |
| Placement | The locations you stitch, with a Calibrate tool to position the box on your mockup (or type the coordinates directly). |
| Patch options | Patch sizes, backing (iron-on / sew-on / velcro) and border (merrowed or stitched). |
| Pricing | Per-product pricing; the shopper-facing price updates live by stitch count and area. Quantity breaks are supported. |
| Digitizing | Whether digitizing is offered free, and the optional “free digitizing at N+” clause. Leave it off and the clause never appears. |
| Minimum order quantity | Blocks checkout below this many units and shows a notice at the top of the builder. Shopify app |
| Mockup photos | Your own product photos per item and view, with one-click background removal in the Shopify app. |
What arrives in the work ticket & spec sheet
- A digitizing-ready spec sheet— placement, finished dimensions, thread colors and an estimated stitch count — so quoting and digitizing are right the first time.
- The customer's artwork as they supplied it: the raster image for a live preview, plus any vector or source file, or their own stitch file when they had one.
- Not a raster print file. Unlike the print builders, embroidery output is a specification, not a 300-DPI PNG.
- Work ticket with the item, color, placement, thread and size, plus the mockup and the customer's contact details.
Because embroidery is spec-based, the resolution (DPI) meter used by the print builders doesn't apply here — finished size and the stitch estimate drive the ticket instead.